Friedrich Ebert
1st President of Germany
In office February 11, 1919 – February 28, 1925
Preceded by	Position established William II (as ruler of the German Empire)
Succeeded by	Paul von Hindenburg
Chancellor of Germany
In office November 9, 1918 – February 11, 1919
Preceded by	Prince Maximilian of Baden
Succeeded by	Philipp Scheidemann
Born	February 4, 1871(1871-02-04)
Died	February 28, 1925 (aged 54)
Political party	SPD

Friedrich Ebert (February 4, 1871 – February 28, 1925) was a German politician (SPD), who served as Chancellor of Germany and its first president during the Weimar period. Events 211 - Roman Emperor Septimius Severus dies leaving the Roman Empire in the hands of his two quarrelsome sons Year 1871 ( MDCCCLXXI) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Events 202 BC - coronation ceremony of Liu Bang as Emperor Gaozu of Han takes place initiating four centuries of the Han Dynasty 's rule Year 1925 ( MCMXXV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. A politician (from Greek " Polis " is an individual who is involved in influencing public decision making through the influence of Politics or a person The Head of government of Germany is called Chancellor (Kanzler Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. The President of Germany (deutscher Bundespräsident is Germany 's Head of state. The term Weimar Republic ( ˈvaɪmarɐ repuˈbliːk is used by historians to signify the democratic and Republican period of Germany from 1919 to 1933

Born in Heidelberg as the son of a tailor, he himself was trained as a saddlemaker. Heidelberg is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. As of 2006 over 140000 people live within the city's area A tailor is a person whose occupation is to sew and scissor menswear style jackets and the skirts or trousers that go with them He became involved in politics as a trade unionist and Social Democrat, and soon became a leader of the moderate revisionist wing of the Social Democratic Party, becoming Secretary-General in 1905, and party chairman in 1913. A trade union or labour union is an organization of workers who have banded together to achieve common goals in key areas such as wages hours and working conditions forming Social democracy is a Political ideology of the left and centre-left Year 1905 ( MCMV) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting Year 1913 ( MCMXIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common He also was a politician in Elberfeld (now part of Wuppertal).

In August 1914, Ebert led the party to vote almost unanimously in favour of war appropriations, accepting that a war was a necessary patriotic, defensive measure. Year 1914 ( MCMXIV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year The party's stance, under the leadership of Ebert and other revisionists like Scheidemann, in favour of the war eventually led to a split, with the more left wing elements in the party leaving in early 1917 to form the USPD. Philipp Scheidemann ( 26 July 1865 &ndash 29 November 1939) was a German Social Democratic politician who proclaimed the Year 1917 ( MCMXVII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year The Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany ( Unabhängige Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, or USPD) was a short-lived Political party

When it became clear that the war was lost, a new government was formed by Prince Maximilian of Baden which included Ebert and other members of the SPD in October 1918. Prince Maximilian Alexander Friedrich Wilhelm of Baden ( Max von Baden) ( 10 July 1867 6 November 1929) was the cousin and Year 1918 ( MCMXVIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Following the outbreak of the German Revolution, Prince Max resigned on November 9, and handed his office over to Ebert. Events 694 - Egica, a king of the Visigoths of Hispania, accuses Jews of aiding Muslims sentencing all Though the Kaiser was declared to have abdicated, Ebert favoured retaining the monarchy under a different ruler. On the same day, however, Scheidemann proclaimed the German Republic, in response to the unrest in Berlin and in order to counter a declaration of the "Free Socialist Republic" by Karl Liebknecht later that day. ( August 13, 1871 - January 15, 1919) was a German Socialist and a co-founder of the Spartacist League and the Communist This proclamation ended the German Monarchy and an entirely Socialist provisional government took power under Ebert's leadership.

Ebert accepted this position only reluctantly. He was a supporter of the monarchy until the abdication of the Kaiser ("If the Kaiser abdicates, the social revolution is inevitable. But I do not want it, I hate it like sin", he said to Max von Baden on November 7), and when Scheidemann proclaimed the Republic he responded: "Is that true? You have no right to proclaim the Republic!" By this he meant that the decision was to be made by an elected national assembly, even if that decision would be the restoration of the monarchy.

Ebert led the new government for the next several months, notably using the army to suppress the Spartacist uprising, commonly identified with Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht. The Spartacist uprising, also known as the January uprising, was a General strike (and the armed battles accompanying it in Germany from January 5 Rosa Luxemburg (Róża Luksemburg 5 March 1870 or 1871 15 January 1919 was a Polish-born Jewish German Marxist theorist, socialist ( August 13, 1871 - January 15, 1919) was a German Socialist and a co-founder of the Spartacist League and the Communist When the Constituent Assembly met in Weimar in February, 1919, Ebert was chosen to be the first president of the German Republic. A constituent assembly is a body elected with the purpose of drafting and in some cases adopting a Constitution. Weimar (ˈvaɪmaʁ is a City in Germany. It is located in the Bundesland of Thuringia (Thüringen north of the Thüringer Wald, Year 1919 ( MCMXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The term Weimar Republic ( ˈvaɪmarɐ repuˈbliːk is used by historians to signify the democratic and Republican period of Germany from 1919 to 1933

The German workers protected his government from the Kapp Putsch in 1920 by means of a nationwide general strike. The Kapp Putsch — or more accurately the Kapp-Lüttwitz Putsch — was a 1920 coup attempt during the German revolution aimed at overthrowing the After the strike was over, however, Ebert's government again recruited the Freikorps and the soldiers who had wanted to overthrow him in order to quell remaining uprisings in western Germany.

While hundreds of civilians were killed (including many who had nothing to do with the uprising), most of the putschists were treated leniently. Some of the Freikorps already used the swastika as their symbol of resistance against the "red pack" at the time, and many of them as well as right-wing members of the Reichswehr would later become influential national socialists. The swastika (from Sanskrit: svástika sa स्वस्तिक Hindu IS CORRECT if 'ि' is positioned incorrectly see -->) is In November 1923, Ebert rebuked his own party for leaving the coalition government of Gustav Stresemann. Year 1923 ( MCMXXIII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. ( May 10, 1878 &ndash October 3, 1929) was a German liberal politician and statesman who served as Chancellor and Foreign Minister

Controversy

Ebert remains a somewhat controversial figure to this day. Social democracy is a Political ideology of the left and centre-left The Age of Enlightenment or The Enlightenment is a term used to describe a phase in Western philosophy and cultural life centered upon the eighteenth century Utopian socialism is a term used to define the first currents of modern socialist thought A trade union or labour union is an organization of workers who have banded together to achieve common goals in key areas such as wages hours and working conditions forming The European Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Spring of Nations or the Year of Revolution, were a series of political upheavals throughout the European Orthodox Marxism is the term used to describe the version of Marxism which emerged after the death of Karl Marx and acted as the official philosophy of the The term "revisionism" is also used to refer to other concepts Socialist Reformism is the belief that gradual democratic changes in a Society can ultimately change a society's fundamental economic relations and political structures The Third Way is a term that has been used to describe a variety of political philosophies of governance that embracing a mix of market and interventionist philosophies Representative democracy is a form of government founded on the principles of the people's representatives Labor rights or workers' rights are a group of Legal rights and claimed Human rights having to do with Labor relations between Workers thumb| |Broken Liberty Istanbul Archaeology Museum Civil liberties are freedoms that protect the Individual from the Government. This article refers specifically to the Welfare state of the United Kingdom. A mixed economy is an Economic system that incorporates aspects of more than one economic system Secularism is generally the assertion that governmental practices or institutions should exist separately from Religion or religious beliefs Fair trade is an organized Social movement and market-based approach to empowering developing country producers and promoting sustainability Environmentalism is a broad philosophy and Social movement centered on a concern for the conservation and improvement of the environment. This is a list of parties in the world that consider themselves to be upholding the principles and values of Social democracy. Socialist International is a worldwide organization of socialist ( social democratic and labour) political parties The Party of European Socialists (PES is a European political party comprising of thirty-three socialist, social democratic and labour Inaugural Congress The founding and first congress of the ITUC was held November 1 - 3 2006 in Vienna Eduard Bernstein ( January 6 1850 December 18 1932) was a German social democratic theoretician and ( 23 November 1860 – 24 February 1925) was a Swedish politician Jean Léon Jaurès (full name Auguste Marie Joseph Jean Léon Jaurès; 3 September 1859 31 July 1914) was a French André Léon Blum (9 April 1872 30 March 1950 was a French politician usually identified with the moderate left and three times the Prime Minister of France. Karl Kautsky ( October 16 1854 - October 17 1938) was a leading theoretician of Social democracy. James Ramsay MacDonald ( 12 October 1866 &ndash 9 November 1937) was a British politician and twice Prime Minister of the United Clement Richard Attlee 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC ( 3 January 1883 &ndash 8 October 1967 Thomas Clement "Tommy" Douglas, PC, CC, SOM ( October 20, 1904 – February 24, 1986) was a While the SPD recognizes him as one of the founders and keepers of German democracy whose death in office in February 1925 was a great loss, communists and others on the far left argue that he paved the way for fascism by supporting the ultra-right Freikorps and their violent suppression of Marxist uprisings. The designation of Freikorps ( German for "Free Corps " was originally applied to voluntary armies formed in German lands from the middle of 18th century

Those were the same people who spread the Dolchstoßlegende, the idea that the socialists were responsible for Germany's defeat in World War I. The stab-in-the-back legend ( German:, literally "Dagger stab legend" refers to a social Myth theory popular in Germany in the period after World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All This was a particularly perfidious claim, as the socialists had entered the ceasefire negotiations on request of the military leadership, after the generals had decided that the war could no longer be won. To the generals, the Weimar Republic was a temporary, necessary evil to divert blame from themselves and prepare for the next war, and Ebert is viewed by his critics as playing exactly the role that the military wanted him to play.

Some historians have defended Ebert's actions as unfortunate but inevitable to prevent the creation of a communist state. Communist state is a term used by many Political scientists to describe a Form of government in which the State operates under a one-party system Leftist historians like Bernt Engelmann have argued that many of the workers were in fact centrist SPD supporters, and that the communist party was not yet politically relevant (in part because of the assassination of Liebknecht and Luxemburg). However, the actions of Ebert and his Minister of Defense, Gustav Noske, against the workers contributed to their radicalization and to increasing support for communist ideas. Gustav Noske ( July 9, 1868 - November 30, 1946) was a German administrator. During his five years as President he issued 134 emergency decrees.

The creation of elected workers' councils, which Ebert had tolerated in the early days of the republic, was viewed by moderate workers as a legitimate centrist instrument to oversee the democratic government, when many government officials were reactionaries who yearned for a return of the monarchy, and when workers still enjoyed little protection from exploitation, so that strikes were frequently ended with machine guns. Ebert's critics view him as a knowing or unknowing agent of the reaction who made the wrong decisions in shaping post-war Germany by giving power and influence to those who had already sought German world domination in World War I and preventing the creation of a united, progressive political party. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Anti-SPD slogans such as "Wer hat uns verraten? Sozialdemokraten!" ("Who betrayed us? Social democrats!") were born out of the experiences of Ebert's era. A German Grammar School located in Hamburg (Friedrich-Ebert-Gymnasium) was named after Friedrich-Ebert.

See also

• Friedrich Ebert Foundation
• Ebert-Groener pact

External links

• President Friedrich Ebert Memorial in Heidelberg (in German only)